2025/01/21 by Adam Bode, Marta Kowal, Fabio Cannas Aghedu +1 · 1 voice
Psychology · #Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development #Attachment and Relationship Dynamics #Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
paper · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2025.01.103
openalex publication_date 2025/01/21 · openalex created_date 2025/01/22 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/03
For >15 years, researchers have speculated that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) use is associated with negative romantic love outcomes. No one has empirically investigated this, however. Drawing on 810 participants from the Romantic Love Survey 2022, we used binary logistic regression to identify differences between young adults experiencing romantic love who were and were not taking SSRIs. Predictor variables were biological sex, mental health problems, intensity of romantic love, obsessive thinking about a loved one, commitment, and frequency of sex. Only biological sex and mental health problems were associated with SSRI use. None of our romantic love variables were associated with SSRI use. This is the first evidence to demonstrate that SSRI use is not associated with some features of romantic love in a sample of young adults experiencing romantic love. The findings have implications for clinical practice and can be used to allay some concerns among individuals considering commencing SSRIs for common mental health problems. • First study to investigate SSRI use and romantic (passionate) love • Data drawn from the Romantic Love Survey 2022, the worlds largest dataset of people experiencing romantic love • Sufficient sample size to identify small effects • Used two validated measures of features of romantic love and two other single item measures related to romantic love • No differences in features of romantic love between SSRI users and a control group